91����

Many of the dear friends who have given generously to 91���� and its students over the last year gathered in downtown Los Angeles on December 4 for the annual Christmas Dinner. There they enjoyed excellent food, fine music, and good company.

“This evening we express our gratitude to our friends and benefactors, through whom God’s love has been extended to our College and to our faculty and students,” said President Michael F. McLean in his opening greeting. “We thank God for His bounteous mercy to ourselves and to our country, and we ask Him to help us embrace a life that Pope Francis calls ‘free, faithful, poor in means but rich in love.’”

In keeping with the night’s theme of gratitude, the College made use of the occasion to honor two beloved members of the community. The first was Laura (Steichen ’78) Berquist, author of , director and founder of , and the wife of late 91���� Founder Marcus R. Berquist. The second was the College’s long-serving chaplain, Rev. Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J.

“Laura was a founding student and a member of our first graduating class,” said Dr. McLean. “It is a privilege to honor her tonight for her lifelong devotion to classical Catholic education, for the great good she is accomplishing with students and families, and for her many contributions to her alma mater.” In celebration of both Mr. and Mrs. Berquist, as well as the other founders of 91����, and to celebrate the College and its benefactors, Dr. McLean played the following video presentation:

In saluting Fr. Buckley, Dr. McLean remarked that the 91-year-old Jesuit “has been a friend, a mentor, and a confessor to me and many others in his years at 91����.” Fr. Buckley, he continued, “is a champion of orthodoxy, completely loyal to the Church and to the very best in the Jesuit tradition” and “a wonderful homilist, a counselor with a deft pastoral touch, a sometimes-irreverent comedian — always with a twinkle in his eye!” Dr. McLean then played the following video tribute, “which captures some of Fr. Buckley’s charm and some of the love and affection we all feel for him.”

After toasting the honored guests and offering them tokens of the College’s appreciation, Dr. McLean introduced Director of Gift Planning Tom Susanka, who read St. Luke’s account of the Nativity. Members of the Grimm family then performed various vocal selections before leading the room in singing several traditional Christmas carols.